as in capabilities
the physical or mental power to do something
as a result of the accident the once-vigorous athlete lost the ability to walk
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Recent Examples of abilities
The same goes for Louis, who entered the draft with a lot of buzz about his positional versatility thanks to his coverage abilities yet wasn’t selected until Day 3.
—
Miami Herald, 8 May 2026
Henceforth, designers began to realize the importance of having a tank that could combine the abilities of different classes and perform multiple battlefield roles.
—Matthew S Williams, Interesting Engineering, 7 May 2026
The respect is mutual, with Caglianone marvelling at Bazzana’s abilities as a middle infielder.
—Pj Green, Kansas City Star, 7 May 2026
Their interests, routines or even physical abilities may change, while their partner may grow along a different path.
—Patricia Neligan, AJC.com, 7 May 2026
Players have five types of shots such as the slice, topspin and lob, and stronger versions of them along with different rackets that carry different abilities.
—Gieson Cacho, Mercury News, 7 May 2026
Scientists are constantly evaluating the impacts the changing climate might have on these species and their abilities to find their way into new areas.
—Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA Today, 7 May 2026
Aleksandar Pavlovic is a penetrative passer and a fine orchestrator, but without replicating his abilities, Bayern risk creating a dependency and becoming reliant on a solitary source of quick, forward possession.
—Sebastian Stafford-Bloor, New York Times, 7 May 2026
Fitness programs are designed for all ages and abilities.
—Lauren Schuster, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 7 May 2026
Miami Herald, 8 May 2026
Henceforth, designers began to realize the importance of having a tank that could combine the abilities of different classes and perform multiple battlefield roles.
—Matthew S Williams, Interesting Engineering, 7 May 2026
The respect is mutual, with Caglianone marvelling at Bazzana’s abilities as a middle infielder.
—Pj Green, Kansas City Star, 7 May 2026
Their interests, routines or even physical abilities may change, while their partner may grow along a different path.
—Patricia Neligan, AJC.com, 7 May 2026
Players have five types of shots such as the slice, topspin and lob, and stronger versions of them along with different rackets that carry different abilities.
—Gieson Cacho, Mercury News, 7 May 2026
Scientists are constantly evaluating the impacts the changing climate might have on these species and their abilities to find their way into new areas.
—Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA Today, 7 May 2026
Aleksandar Pavlovic is a penetrative passer and a fine orchestrator, but without replicating his abilities, Bayern risk creating a dependency and becoming reliant on a solitary source of quick, forward possession.
—Sebastian Stafford-Bloor, New York Times, 7 May 2026
Fitness programs are designed for all ages and abilities.
—Lauren Schuster, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 7 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for abilities
Noun
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Strictly Necessary Cookies Always Active These Cookies and SDKs are required for Service functionality, including security and fraud prevention, and to enable any purchasing capabilities.—
Rohan Nadkarni,
NBC news,
3 May 2026
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Kyiv has become an arms powerhouse by building up its drone capabilities and bolstering defense partnerships that give it additional geopolitical leverage, an analyst argued in Persuasion.—
J.D. Capelouto,
semafor.com,
3 May 2026
Noun
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So do disruptors such as Tyson Foerster and Sean Couturier in fourth-line capacities.—
Shayna Goldman,
New York Times,
1 May 2026
-
After her stint at Today, Curry remained with NBC for several years in different capacities, including as an anchor-at-large and correspondent across the NBC News portfolio.—
Francesca Gariano,
PEOPLE,
30 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Try this instead The prevalence of vaguebooking also speaks to the breakdown of communication skills more broadly.—
Charles Trepany,
USA Today,
28 Apr. 2026
-
Facing a crisis in critical thinking skills, some are reviving oral exams, forcing students to defend their assignments to instructors in real time.—
Jocelyn Gecker,
Los Angeles Times,
28 Apr. 2026
Noun
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An Italy international at every level from under-15s to under-19s, Reggiani is considered one of the brightest talents in Italian football.—
James Horncastle,
New York Times,
7 May 2026
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Randy Moss is taking his talents from the football field to the fishing boat.—
Amber Harding OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
6 May 2026
Noun
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The researchers also announced a contest with a $200,000 prize pool on the popular machine learning competition site Kaggle for outside researchers to help build evaluations for the five cognitive faculties where existing benchmark tests are weakest.—
Jeremy Kahn,
Fortune,
30 Mar. 2026
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Strange occurrences quickly destabilize the group, with the writer becoming increasingly unhinged, convinced the location has an inexplicable hold over her creative faculties.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
17 Mar. 2026
Noun
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For this class, the premise is that your purpose in life lies to the intersection of your values, your aptitudes and your interests.—
Dana Taylor,
USA Today,
6 May 2026
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This model reflects Japan’s long-standing corporate culture, which prioritizes new hires for their general potential—their aptitudes and aspirations, as opposed to their current skill sets or university majors—and then trains them on the job.—
GRACIA LIU-FARRER,
Foreign Affairs,
18 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Of all the competencies required for the role, political affiliation or experience as a television commentator are not high on his list.—
Pien Huang,
NPR,
2 May 2026
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Learn from that and then get incredibly good rebuild core competencies.—
Richard Tribou,
The Orlando Sentinel,
27 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Abilities.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/abilities. Accessed 11 May. 2026.
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